Android 5.0 Jelly Bean to launch in coming months?

With tablets, netbooks in its sights

Most Android devices are yet to get Ice Cream Sandwich but rumours are swirling that the next iteration, Android 5.0 (Jelly Bean), will be here before we know it.

The industry's leading rumourmonger, Digitimes, cites Taiwan-based supply chain makers who claim that Google "is likely to" launch Android 5.0 in the second quarter of the year (April to June).

The sources reckon the speedy revelation is all down to the impending threat of Windows 8.

Hot swap

Loathe to lose out to Microsoft's updated operating system, Google is said to be pushing the idea of dual-boot Windows/Android tablets and netbooks to its manufacturing partners.

To this end, Android 5.0 could be set to integrate Chrome OS functions, bringing the netbook OS in line with tablets and smartphones (just as Ice Cream Sandwich was intended to bring smartphones and tablets in line with each other).

Ice Cream Sandwich, meanwhile, is yet to really take off with only a handful of devices, including the flagship Galaxy Nexus, running the OS.

We find it hard to believe that Google would launch a whole new OS only six months or so after Android 4.0 but the company doesn't seem likely to give up on the Chromebook after just one bite of the apple, so there may be an element of truth to the rumours.

But whether the reasoning is sound or not, it's far more likely that we'll see a Jelly Bean launch fall later in the year.